STA Blog

STA Work Blog

STAs: Student Technology Assistants

Who We Are
LAITS: IT and Facilities Director, Joe TenBarge initiated the Student Technology Assistant program in 2004. STAs are UT students who work on a variety of projects in collaboration with UT faculty and LAITS staff members. STAs assist College of Liberal Arts faculty members and administrative staff with print and web design. From building presentations, to creating audio/visual works, and producing online classes in the LAITS film studios, STAs are instrumental in helping COLA faculty realize their vision for multimedia projects that enhance their teaching and the students learning experience. By the end of their student careers, STAs have portfolios which demonstrate their accrued technical and design skills.

Prospective STAs:

Creative and technically inclined students are appointed as STAs for one year, with the possibility of being rehired as long as they study at the university. Applicants for the program are hired before both long semesters. Interested students may look for postings on Hire-A-Longhorn when positions are available. Positions will have Student Technology Assistant (illustrator or web designer) in the title of the job post.

Faculty and Staff:

Faculty & Staff with questions about services, please contact us.

https://liberalarts.utexas.edu/laits/contacts.php

  • Audio Services: Michael C Heidenreich, Audio Services Manager
  • Video Services: Kelly Webster, Video Production Supervisor
  • Graphic Design & Web Design Services: Suloni Robertson, Art Director / STA Program Manager

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I finished the taxi car object. Here’s how it turned out:

I also edited the previously done garbage bags to make them look more filled with actual trash. Tate made me an example and I completed the “held” garbage bag.

I also got tasked with working on scans for Dr. Miller. Here’s an example of one I did:

There were quite a bit to scan, so I’m still working on editing them.

I also finally got the sketch for U15_3 approved and am working on the linework now.

I’m also currently working on making the uber car for Tate and new COLA IDs.

https://sta.laits.utexas.edu/blog/2018/07/17/23666-2/

Week of 7/16

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Week of 7/16

Last week I sent out the latest batch of “This is Democracy” drafts. I had to replace the Capitol building with the Lincoln Memorial, so I retraced the new building and played around with the composition. It was a bit difficult since the Lincoln Memorial’s overall shape is a lot different compared to that of the Capitol – it’s way more boxier and fills the space differently.

 

On the left, we have it zoomed out, which I think makes the monument more recognizable, but there might be too much empty space. On the right, the Lincoln Memorial is more zoomed in, but I feel like it’s a little too cluttered. My personal vote goes to the first one!

UPDATE: I just found out that I’m to make a draft with the Lincoln statue instead, so unfortunately the ones of the Lincoln Memorial above probably won’t be used…

It’ll look something like this. I still have to trace it, but I wonder if it looks like Lincoln is sitting there mediating the two characters’ discussion? (Is that a good or bad thing?)

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I also created these bus symbols for RUS412. This assignment was relatively simple since I just had to trace over the bus reference image.

The wheels are separate symbols so they can rotate. I made the wheels from the back view symbols too, but I’m not sure if they can be made to rotate?

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Another task was to update the banner for the Humanities Department on Cascade, since their original one had a blurry logo and was cropped the wrong dimensions. Here is a screenshot of the final version, uploaded on Cascade:

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Finally, I’m still working on my RUS412 illustration. Kathy, Suloni, and I have changed Oleg’s bedroom to a forest den, which is much more cozy for a hedgehog :^) I still have to line the students in the lecture hall, but everything is slowly coming together! (The Olegs are just there as placeholders for now)

I spent wayyyy too long on the perspective for that classroom, since I kept trying to stick with my original sketch lines but they were so far off! It’s an interesting composition where Oleg’s den in the foreground is more of a flat perspective, while the lecture hall dream has a way more depth. I also plan to make the den setting darker (nighttime) while the lecture hall will have bright light illuminating it, so that the illustration will have even more contrast.

Comparative Literature Newsletter

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Comparative Literature Newsletter

Last week I helped Anne Bormann with her Comparative Literature Newsletter. She had some troubles with the hyperlinks and image sources in InDesign, but we were able to resolve all of her inquiries. I also help her crop out some higher resolution images to put into the newsletter, and I am going to give her some feedback soon on her finalized version of her work.

Theater Set Update

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Theater Set Update

I added some lights and more stars in the marquee image that can be easily animated later.

 

For the desk skirt, I traced over the old design with vectors and added some lighting to show more depth and space. I also added a thin gold frame around the desk skirt to keep the composition more balanced.

 

For the vertical display, I used the same assets and similar colors as the other two designs to keep everything more cohesive. I still need to add the mask and maybe some ribbons and stars to complete the display.

Latest Update

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In the past week, I continued working on my RUS 412 projects for both the animations and the illustrations.

I finally finished my waiter character for the animation:

I then worked on another illustration for U4_10 after finishing U1_10:

scene description: Oleg and Polina are looking at mannequins in a store – adult and kid sized – male and female. They can be dressed however, but they should be drawn as if they have wigs (hair) and with fake eyes, lips, etc. They should not be the faceless/colorless mannequins.

I first made a collage to show Kathy my layout:

Then I started making my line drawings:

And then started coloring in the backgrounds of where the mannequins were standing – I wanted to make the theme ~summer~ and add a tropical/ beach feel…

And then I sketched the inside of the store through the window to make it look more ~realistic~ and also added in some shadows, as well as finished coloring in everything else. I also added in some “shine” to the mannequins to make them look more plastic-y:

The light source looked a bit confusing, so I googled “store front awning in the sun” and got a better idea of how the shadow would cast over the store. I also added in Polina and Oleg looking into the store. Here is my final version of the illo!

Lastly, I started working on the NWAV 49 project and made my first logo draft: